


Portraits

by LadyYateXel



Series: The Emperor/Bodyguard Stuff [1]
Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, POV Outsider, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-14 22:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5760469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyYateXel/pseuds/LadyYateXel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after things did not go so horribly on Centauri Prime, Na'Toth is asked by G'Kar, the bodyguard to Emperor Mollari II, to hold down the fort while he's away on a long vacation.  Na'Toth observes the Emperor, the palace, and the culture, and gets the feeling G'Kar neglected to give her some important information.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Portraits

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of what I just started calling my "Emperor/Bodyguard" stuff, and it was done mostly to satisfy a lot of things I enjoy: 
> 
> \- outsider's perspective on relationships  
> \- reunions  
> \- people dancing  
> \- people talking about language learning  
> \- post-canon AUs in which things don't get so fucked up, apparently
> 
> So some things have happened to everyone within this universe that aren't discussed here yet, but I think it's fairly easy to enjoy without all the background knowledge in place immediately. The plan is for it to be here eventually, though, and I'll just post all the things I make in this universe/timeline under uone umbrella of stuff. There's a lot, so I hope someone else enjoys the little pocket world I made for myself as much as I do!

Less than six hours after she'd arrived, Na'Toth was working. She was supposed to have a week of guidance and orientation, but a sudden transport schedule change had forced G'Kar to depart on his strange 'vacation' early, leaving Na'Toth alone with (and largely unprepared for) Emperor Mollari. It was less than ideal, to say the least. She was satisfied, however, that Mollari seemed just as uneasy about the arrangement. Na'Toth would not harm him, no matter how much she thought it a wiser course of action than protecting him, but she could enjoy letting him wonder about it. Her performance as his bodyguard would be flawless, and she'd leave him properly unsettled as he waited for the trick, the twist, the other side of the coin. It would be satisfying.

 

She stood now watching a rather dull party over Mollari's left shoulder. It rendered her mouth dry, her head foggy. A near constant stream of frilled and feathered Centauri women approached Mollari's throne to pay some sort of respect, and Na'Toth had to restrain sneers each time. How G'Kar had endured these, even with his odd tastes in bedroom companions, she could not fathom.

 

“I don't imagine you've seen much of this sort of thing, hmm?” Mollari idly swirled some wine in a golden cup, watching it more than the party. He might as well have been talking to the wine, for he made no eye contact with Na'Toth.

 

Prison walls versus glittery parties. “No, I somehow missed these _opportunities,”_ she hissed.

 

He nodded, but from this angle, his expression couldn't be read.

 

“The lady at the back there,” he said, nodding toward a woman in the far corner who was leaning against a pillar and keeping her distance from the dancing. Her dress was enormous and seemed to stick out in the front and back far more than even the Centauri could consider practical. “That's Lady Ellov.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

He took a breath. It was not so quick or so pained as to be called 'sharp', but it was audible, Na'Toth could sense it, even in the constant murmur of this foolish event.

 

“I only thought her worth pointing out.” He looked back into his wine. << Her dress looks like a boat.>>

 

<<Oh, absolutely! She looks –>> She stopped suddenly, realizing what she'd heard and who had said it. She lowered her voice quickly and leaned in enough to be heard over the party. “You speak _Narn_?”

 

He did not look at her, but rather raised his glass in polite acknowledgment of someone across the room who had done the same to him. “G'Kar has been trying to teach me. It is not much, but it is enough to get by.”

 

“Or enough to insult women's dresses.”

 

Mollari shrugged one shoulder and smiled into his golden cup. “G'Kar's curriculum may leave something to be desired, but you learn what you practice, and we find the greatest use for it right here.”

 

She almost wanted to smile, though it was more at the image of the now-absent G'Kar suggesting language lessons in order to covertly insult the citizens in the palace than at Mollari sitting beside her, largely useless and all draped in gold.

 

A couple approached the elaborate throne where Mollari sat and bowed at the steps in front of him. Na'Toth contained both growls and nausea while they pointedly avoiding speaking to or about her. They made much of the quality of the party, and attempted to establish how they were connected to Mollari through some long and tortured social family tree. She had only limited experience with this man, but time with G'Kar had taught Na'Toth to sense insincerity where ever it was to be found, and even Mollari seemed to tire of this couple's fawning. A good sign, perhaps. If he'd willingly learned even rudimentary Narn from G'Kar, there was a chance he would not be _completely_ unbearable for the next three months.

 

“Lovely to see you both, yes!” Mollari called as the couple bowed and backed away from him. “Please enjoy yourselves!”

 

As they moved into the crowd, Na'Toth bent closer to Mollari, and spoke slowly, clearly, and with basic, unadorned speech, just to be sure. <<The man has forgotten something.>>

 

Mollari glanced up at her, confused. At first, it looked like he had not understood, and then he spoke.

 

<<Forgotten what?>>

 

She casually scratched at a spot near the back of her head in order to nod in the couple's direction. When Mollari looked back into the crowd and Na'Toth saw him restrain a laugh at the sight of the man's hair slowly flopping downward, she had a sudden urge to join the leagues of others now worshiping G'Kar. His irreverent foolishness may have saved her for once.

 

“I'm glad to see you capable of smiling. I hoped something like this might warm you up to me. Perhaps make all of this easier.” He looked at her properly for the first time since the party began and smirked as though quite pleased with himself. Unpleasant. How G'Kar saw that smile even once and remained on this planet of his own free will would be an enduring mystery for as long as Na'Toth lived.

 

“Perhaps,” she replied. Her smile had vanished, but she was polite. Diplomacy. G'Kar would be proud.

 

The golden cup clinked as Mollari set it on the tiny table to his right. He rose to his feet and Na'Toth tried not to lock her jaw in anticipation of orders.

 

“Shall I be expected to protect you while you dance among a sea of would-be killers?” She framed it as concern for him, but she suspected her sneering distaste for the event showed through.

 

“G'Kar usually dances _with_ me,” he replied as he straightened one of his countless layers of silk. “The other guests generally find it unsettling, and so he naturally finds it very _entertaining._ But, no, I had _something else_ in mind, actually. Come along.”

 

_Something else? Something just not specified? Could that be what it sounded like? Did Mollari have a taste for Narn like G'Kar's for Centauri?_ Every cell in Na'Toth's body stiffened in revulsion and she wished for something other than the polished stone floor to dig her heels into. How did G'Kar _do_ this, even with casual language instruction to distract him? Dancing and bowing to this man's whims, whatever they were? Perhaps he really _was_ Mollari's pet like the gossip on the transport had supposed.

 

Well, whatever it was, she would end it. One does not just 'have something else in mind' for Na'Toth or any other Narn, and one certainly does not casually order a Narn to go _anywhere,_ ridiculous Emperor or not _._ G'Kar would be informed as quickly as possible that it had not taken more than the space of a few hours for this 'trustworthy' Londo Mollari to return to his roots.

 

Appalling though he may have been, Mollari was not unobservant. “I'm not suggesting anything of an inappropriate sort, Miss Na'Toth.” He was not accusing, not joking, and not loud. Strange.

 

“G'Kar would not have even risked _hinting._ ”

 

“Believe me when say I had no reason to hint. I am also not G'Kar. I only want to show you something that may be of help to you.”

 

“Surely I don't need help from _you_ to do this job?” What would a man who couldn't stop being attacked know about being a bodyguard?

 

“I might argue with you, but _you_ are not G'Kar either.” He took a step toward the curtain that hung behind his throne. His voice was soft, reassuring. Unsettling. “Trust me for a few minutes, and if what you see does not change anything, then you may return to hostile suspicion with my blessing.”

 

He nodded between Na'Toth and the curtain, and she returned the nod, confirming this temporary agreement. The way he smiled in response made her regret it, but she had just promised a few minutes of trust and imagined G'Kar would be displeased if Mollari died not only on her watch but by her hand, so she kept her disgust to herself and followed Mollari behind the curtain.

 

Londo Mollari had broken her out of this very palace only a few years ago, and while he may have saved her life, Na'Toth had not developed G'Kar's trust in or fondness for the Centauri Emperor. Thus, had anyone but G'Kar requested she return here, she'd have spit in their faces and stomped them into the dust as payment for the insult. Special as G'Kar was, he received only the spit.

 

“I trust you will find this educational,” Mollari said, his voice echoing into a large brightly lit corridor around the corner.

 

“And what am I to be educated _on_?”

 

“History,” he said, stopping in front a large portrait of a Centauri woman on he left wall. It was the first large painting in a seemingly endless line that stretched as far as Na'Toth could see down the hall and potentially beyond. She quickly imagined being taken on a tour of each one of these portraits of dull colonialists' wives and had to swallow a growl.

 

“I agreed to trust you for a few _minutes_ , Mollari.”

 

He waved his hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, and it's all you will need. One noblewoman's portrait is really much like another.”

 

Na'Toth blinked. She'd been prepared for patriotism in the faces of all these painted women, not flippant disregard. “Then why are we here?”

 

“When the Emperor Taren fell in love with a woman of an unsuitable class, rather than leave her because of her rank, he celebrated her. He had this portrait made and hung in a place of great significance in the main hall. Pride being what it is, when the next Emperor took the throne, he could not let his reign pass without commissioning a portrait of the woman _he_ loved most. If Taren's lower-class woman warranted a portrait, surely the next Emperor's _noble_ mistress was deserving of equal if not better treatment.”

 

“Fascinating,” she said, though it wasn't.

 

“This has continued for hundreds of years. The people in this hall are...” He paused and frowned, as though looking for the words. “They are those who have been _beloved_ by every Centauri Emperor since this first portrait. Most of them are like these ladies,” and he spread his hands as though formally presenting the first two paintings to Na'Toth, “and they are socially unacceptable lovers, mistresses, and somewhat curiously loved wives.”

 

“I'm afraid I fail to see where this is going.” She was also afraid she might 'accidentally' vomit on one of these works of 'art' given much more time. She _had_ eaten some Centauri food from the buffet earlier in the evening...

 

“It is just most of them.” He took a few steps away from her, following the progression of the paintings. “Walk along here until you reach the end, and tell me what you see.”

 

She snorted and strode ahead of him, eager to end this sorry excuse for bonding quickly. Her stomach soured with each passing image of trussed up Centauri women, all useless and decorative, with their dresses crowding them in their frames and likely filling up their skulls as well.

 

“Lace and silk and little else,” Na'Toth reported about halfway down the hall.

 

He followed behind her slowly, giving each portrait more time than he had given some of the living creatures in the Great Hall where the dance was still taking place. “Humor me, and wait until the end. Try not to run, or you'll miss the good parts, hmm?”

 

She whirled around and stomped purposefully away from him at emphatically-not-a-run. She would tear up every one of his historical women fantasies and tell him what she thought of a world that spent time painting pictures of spoiled, pathetic excuses for women drowning in ribbon while scorching her world beyond recognition.

 

Her boot squeaked against he polished floors when she stopped abruptly at an unexpected portrait of a Centauri man.

 

“And what is _he_ doing here?” The Centauri had not struck her as people civilized enough to accept what this might be implying.

 

Mollari smiled, and to Na'Toth's surprise, it was not smug, nor was it especially disgusting. “Being the apparent most beloved of Emperor Vadenza.”

 

She narrowed her eyes, waiting for him, watching him. Waiting for a glance, or a word, or a flicker of an eyelid; _something_ to betray some kind of agenda. He gave up nothing, only continued strolling along the long line of painted dresses with faces pasted into them.

 

As she resumed her march toward the end of the hall, the fashions morphed, hair made a brief comeback on the women's heads (a poor choice), and a few Emperors made 'beloved' decisions beyond young, beautiful, and female. While this was of mild interest, it still did not change what she was going to tell Mollari about his world and his people's decisions when she reached the end. G'Kar had asked her to temper her anger, and encouraged her to channel it to 'places other than Mollari' during her time as G'Kar's replacement, and she would do so, but not before she was sure Mollari knew where they stood with each other.

 

Finally, she was close enough to the end to give her verdict, to tell Mollari what she'd seen. She turned to address him face to face when she caught a flash of the familiar in the corner of her eye. There at the end of the row, distinctly less frilly and excessively bejeweled than anything that had come before it, was what Mollari had wanted her to see.

 

_“G'Kar?”_

 

“I had to fire three royal painters before one would agree to paint a Narn. Particularly a religiously important one.”

 

Again, she waited for the joke, but again, it did not come. Instead, Mollari stood beside her in front of the portrait and serenely waited for Na'Toth to process what she was seeing. G'Kar looked down at her with a hint of a smug smile hiding under his otherwise royally benevolent gaze. The artist had been quite competent at capturing the expression of a man who knew quite well that he was going to annoy the entire palace for centuries just by sitting for a portrait.

 

G'Kar wore more jewels here than she'd seen him in when she and Mollari hastily saw him off to his transport, but it was still far less than the women or even the men in the long row before him. Barring a few touches here and there, he was relatively uncorrupted of Centauri influence.

 

“And everyone agreed to all of this?”

 

“He would not be up here otherwise.”

 

“'Mistresses, lovers, and wives', you said.”

 

Mollari tilted his head to either side a few times and scrunched his nose a bit. “Yes, more or less.”

 

“He-”

 

“I trust whatever conclusion you arrive at would be close to at least some part of the truth.” G'Kar's influence may have had a hand in part of that sentence, and the idea of it all hit Na'Toth somewhere under her ribs.

 

This seemed a large thing to leave out of a request to cover G'Kar's duties. Had there really not been enough moments to spare a few words for something like _'By the way, I may have undersold my relationship with Mollari'?_ Did G'Kar imagine this as some kind of footnote? Why not mention it even once in all the communication they'd exchanged in all the time since he'd been staying here? Was it possible Mollari was making it all up? She glanced between the portrait and Mollari several times, but neither the painting nor Mollari seemed to be faking anything.

 

“I – on the transport over, I heard rumors and gossip, but --”

 

“Of course you did!” Mollari laughed, and Na'Toth saw his sharp teeth for the first time since she'd arrived. “It is among their favorite things to discuss, I think.”

 

“They called him your _pet._ ”

 

“He left before I could put a picture up in the pet room too.” He put on an exaggerated pout, which _someone_ must once have found endearing or he wouldn't be trying it on her.

 

However, the joke sent a shock through her and she whirled to look him properly in the eyes and growl, but found Mollari blinking back at her and appearing not as a soft, overly primped, and decorated bit of mold, but as an actual sentient creature. When that had happened, she didn't know, but seeing it was enough for her to catch herself before a snarl escaped her throat.

 

It didn't matter. Mollari noticed, and he knew. He knew she objected to his tone and his disregard for the weight behind the word, and she was surprised, but not placated, when he showed instant regret.

 

“Apologies,” he said, and paired it with a nod that was nearly a bow. “G'Kar would have laughed.”

 

She took a step away from him. “I am not G'Kar.”

 

“I know. Nor am I, and it seems we are both used to him. We have some adjusting to do, yes?”

 

“Perhaps,” she conceded slowly. She gazed back into G'Kar's painted face, royally smug, wearing what must have been Mollari's jewels on his chest and shoulder, and all at once the task of guarding Mollari seemed as though it would be not only bearable, but entertaining.

 

“He must be delighted to make so many uncomfortable with this,” she said fondly, running her finger across the elaborate frame surrounding the painting.

 

Mollari sighed and turned back toward the way they had come in. “He delights in few things as much as making the palace squirm.”

 

She trotted up beside him and smiled. “That appears to be something the three of us have in common.”

 

He returned her smile, though it was restrained and far from the sorts of beaming grins she used to see on him during his time on Babylon 5. It looked, however, very much like G'Kar's expression from the portrait.

 

“I wonder, Miss Na'Toth, if you have any interest in learning to dance.”

 

“I believe that is an adjustment I'd be willing to make.”

 

 

 


	2. Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief dance lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Then once I'd mentioned dancing, I guess I couldn't stop. 
> 
> I'm so fond of drawing Londo and G'Kar dancing to make others uncomfortable, so I wrote Na'Toth beginning to learn about it. It's a snippet, as many of the following pieces will be, but I enjoyed doing it.

For several days after the party, Na'Toth watched Londo Mollari exist as two people.

 

She stood at his side while he reviewed reports delivered to him by representatives of far off Centauri colonies in the morning, and was accidentally breaking expensive vases with him by midday. (It was he who said “I'm sorry,” rather than demanding the apology from her after they crashed into each other and the table the vase rested on. “G'Kar usually anticipates where we are going. Don't worry, I won't let them blame you for this.”)

 

At dinner, she listened to the freshest vapid court gossip and political bickering and was given very fine Narn cuisine for her trouble. (“G'Kar tells me that greenish thing is particularly good, and his favorite is that sort of shredded black … thing. I can't pronounce it, but I also can't digest it, so I'm not making that much of an effort.”) After the meal, Mollari both gave an official approval of some tax allocation and slipped out onto a balcony to hide from a noble he did not particularly want to deal with. (“I have been avoiding him for a week and a half. G'Kar faked being dramatically sick the last time. When this man speaks, it's like your brain turns to spoo and threatens to seep from your ears. I am doing us a favor, _trust me_.”)

 

Na'Toth slept in a small room just off of Mollari's quarters, but the room, which she'd been told was designated specifically for the purpose of housing an imperial bodyguard or telepath, was oddly empty. It gave no appearance of having been occupied for any length of time, let alone at all recently. A few things she recognized as being Narn in origin were tucked into the corner of one shelf, but there was no other indication that G'Kar had ever been here. He'd either lied to her and Mollari about the proposed length of his absence and packed up everything he owned, or G'Kar has never bothered to live in this room.

 

The portrait she'd seen suggested the latter.

 

And so, frankly, did everything she'd seen. Only a few days in the palace, and already she'd heard about military organization, heard intelligence reports from far away worlds, and learned the most humiliating secrets about the husbands of several of the women at dinner. If Na'Toth had been privy to these things, G'Kar likely knew even deeper secrets. He's been present at meetings, meals, and official signings for two years. G'Kar could unravel these people if he chose.

 

But he had not.

 

It was _he_ that was the religious inspiration after all. People like Na'Toth were not. That was fine with her. However, it did not make her head spin less to consider all that he must know and quietly never share with anyone. Anyone but Mollari.

 

Was G'Kar out in space now, sharing Centauri military secrets? It would have been like him five or six years ago, certainly. He'd have traded all he knew for weapons, ships, genetics. But now, as she fell asleep on this awful planet, she imagined G'Kar as he was in the portrait hall, decorated in Mollari's jewels, flying through space, speaking to the stars not of military secrets, but of universal truths, dancing, faking sick, and fine food.

 

A week after her arrival, she was awoken early by a rapping on her door. She sprang to her feet, and tore the door open, terrified that she'd fallen asleep so deeply as to need rousing. Was she late? Was Mollari dead on her watch? She nearly fell through the doorway.

 

“Yes?!”

 

Mollari stood in front of he door, not dead, wearing a fewer ridiculous layers than usual, and a bit taken aback.

 

“Sorry, I thought you'd be awake.”

 

“Yes, yes, I should have been, I was just--”

 

“It's nothing. It is still very early, and I am not going anywhere yet. I only wanted to warn you now that today is the beginning of some holy festival days. I should have let you know earlier, but... well.”

 

Na'Toth nodded and straightened herself in the doorway. “G'Kar would have known, yes, of course.”

 

He folded his arms behind him. “It will take me some time to adjust.”

 

“What will I need to do?”

 

“Well, if you were serious when we first spoke, that dancing we discussed would not be unwelcome.”

 

She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. “Your people would allow a Narn to dance with them on a holy festival day? I am not a religious person, Mollari, but the ones I have met make me think this would not be an _appreciated_ gesture.”

 

“I am the Emperor. If I have a Narn dance with me, who will they complain to?”

 

“I'm sure attitudes like that have gotten many of your predecessors killed.”

 

“Then I will have company.”

 

His voice softened, and even in the beginnings of his royal finery, he looked suddenly quite pathetic. Again. This developing sympathy for Mollari was rapidly becoming annoying.

 

“G'Kar usually does this _with_ you, correct?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Teach me what you can, then. I will even try not to embarrass you.”

 

He laughs. “Now I am _sure_ you are not like G'Kar. He would make it his sole purpose.”

 

 

 

 

 

The dance was not complicated.

 

“No, no, the other foot.”

 

The dance was not crude.

 

“I don't see what difference it makes.”

 

The dance was not embarrassing.

 

“If you put your foot there, then I'm going to trip over it because I have to do this. See?”

 

The dance was actually rather elegant.

 

“Oh, and I am worried about that?”

 

Mollari smirked at her. “Yes. You are.”

 

“Ah, it seems I've misunderstood.”

 

The dance was not ugly, inappropriate, or objectionable in any way.

 

“It has been a week and already you are sarcastic. Back, left, side, good, yes. I should have known G'Kar would send me someone prickly.”

 

“He is a wise man.”

 

“Ha.”

 

The dance was romantic.

 

“He knows a good match when he sees one.”

 

Mollari raises an eyebrow and smirks, but says nothing else on the subject of G'Kar. He stops moving and pulls back from Na'Toth to look down at their feet.

 

“You are going too quickly here,” he says, tapping his right foot. “There's a beat between this -” he slides his foot across the floor between them toward his left, “and this.” He pulls the foot back between them in place to begin the step that will turn them sideways.

 

“But there's nothing to do with my foot for the other beat.”

 

“Yes, yes, you've got to press into it a bit. Bounce on it. Use your knee, G'Kar is fond of doing it that way.”

 

“My knee...” She tries the step a few times to Mollari counting it through – _in Narn_. She doesn't have time to comment on it before he is satisfied with her performance.

 

“There! That was it. Here, here, do it again.”

 

He joins her and they manage to sync well despite her beginner status.

 

The dance is fun.

 

G'Kar probably enjoys it largely for the discomfort of the spectators, but Na'Toth cannot help but wonder as she is led somewhat clumsily around a spare meeting room, in extremely close contact with Londo Mollari, replicating a dance she has been told was created for a dead emperor's wife, whether he also enjoys the context.

 

 


	3. Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Na'Toth wanders away from a meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of the earliest things I imagined for some reason. It started something of a theme. I'm literally realizing the parallel with a Disney movie as I type this note nine months to a year later. So okay, then.

She took a wrong turn, and ended up in another world.

 

She'd asked to be excused for just a few minutes. The room had been filled with people Mollari counted as friends, or at least people who were in agreement with him about what needed to be done on this world. He felt safe, the room had guards just outside the door. Na'Toth was permitted to step out to ease her rumbling stomach. She'd made a quick dash to the kitchen and collected several of the fruits usually kept on hand for G'Kar, intending to bring them back to eat loudly and messily during Mollari's meeting.

 

Now she stood in the doorway of a library with an armful of orange and purple produce.

 

The palace had several libraries. Mollari explained to her at some point in her first month there that one Emperor had preferred to read on the east end of the building, the other on the south, another near his bedroom, and another near his kitchen, so each had one commissioned in the location he preferred, because the Centauri had nothing else to spend time and money on, evidently.  Each library contained material suited to the relevant ruler's interests and had been that way 'since the days of the old Republic.'

 

This one was newer than the others she'd seen.  Still-gleaming polish on the floors, no dust, no scratches, clear and crisp signs in untarnished metals, and a particular smell.  The smell was familiar.  Achingly familiar.  New things hold a smell that someone used to the object eventually ceases to detect, and that newness  was very much present here. Lingering just under 'new', however, was 'ancient', 'important', and _'home.'_

 

She knew the words on the spines of the books, she knew the images decorating some of the shelves. She knew the smell of that paper, she knew the colored pattern on the floor, she knew the light fixtures, she knew these _shapes_.

 

It was not often that she spoke to herself aloud, but in her wonder, she exhaled and, “It's all Narn...” came out with it.

 

There were shelves upon shelves of books, more than she'd seen in some collections on her own world. All were _from_ her world, as far as she could tell. The smell of the plants used to make these pages... she couldn't mistake it. She set the fruit down on a cart near the heavy open doors and stepped deeper into the room. She pulled a book at random from the shelf and found a history of the Kha'Ri. In other, a study of how the worship of G'Quan had changed over the centuries. Every word in Narn, every aspect of every page from her world.

 

She flipped through the books eagerly, reaching for another nearly the second she opened the first. Every so often, she'd find a reprint, something made with Centauri paper and Centauri binding, but not a single Centauri word. There were so many, and even though all in the section she pulled from were religious and held no special appeal to her in their content, that they were _here!_ Not just on Centauri Prime, but in the royal palace! This was incredible, if they'd not been stolen.

 

Maybe also blasphemous, not that she cared for such things. But G'Kar would care, he would –

 

_G'Kar._

 

She scanned the room, took in the labels and signs. Religious books, history books, folklore, _cook books_. On the far side of the room, a shelf was labeled as Centauri translations of the most significant books in the collection. Behind the tall desk in the center sat stacks of fine paper, expensive inks, and elegant pens. There was also a single locked drawer.

 

If this room was not tailored for G'Kar, it did not exist.

 

“I thought you might be in here.”

 

Mollari, of course.

 

“Why?”

 

“The kitchen is not _that_ interesting. Even G'Kar eventually comes out. And we're in the right part of the palace.”  He entered the room with the same kind of serene patience she'd seen in him as he stood among the portraits in the 'Beloved' hall, and picked up one of the fruits Na'Toth had left on the cart.

 

“This room. This is his, isn't it?”

 

“It was a gift.”

 

Not once in all their correspondence had G'Kar seen fit to mention that he was given an entire small library of fantastically valuable books. Not _once_ had he thought this was information she'd have liked to know! She remained cool and detached, however, and pretended to be deeply interested in inspecting one of the elegant pens.

 

“For any particular occasion?”

 

“He'd been here two years.”

 

Admittedly, she didn't know what a Centauri year was compared to a Narn one, nor did she care to be as versed in Centauri custom and culture as G'Kar, but 'Biennial Give Your Bodyguard a Library Day' had escaped her notice.

 

“That was your reason?”

 

“It was more than enough.”

 

“And your people approve of such lavish gifts being given to a Narn?”

 

He set the fruit back on the cart and walked to the front of the desk, so it now stood between them. “There is very little about G'Kar that anyone here approves of.”

 

“And yet you can still do this.”

 

“It's a funny thing,” Mollari said, reaching over the desk and picking up a pen. “You see, it turns out that I am the Emperor.”

 

“That is a dangerous way to think, Mollari.”

 

“You can let me worry about that.”

 

Much could be said now of it being her concern while she is supposed to be protecting him, but the library could not be undone, so it was not worth the effort. In several weeks, Mollari would be G'Kar's problem again.

 

“Where did you get all of this?”

 

He looked around at the collection and puffed himself a bit, twirling the pen between his fingers. “It is an impressive amount, isn't it? I was surprised to get so much.”

 

“But where did it come from?”

 

“Your world, of course.” He placed the pen back on the desk. “You can imagine there were not many Narn bookshops around here.”

 

She glared across the desk at him. “Mollari. If you have stolen these, then I will be forced to --”

 

“What? No! They were purchased, loaned, or simply given to me.” He shook a finger at her. “In fact, I _rescued_ most of these! They were being kept in basements and caves when their libraries were destroyed. Here, they are safe and being looked after while things are rebuilt.”

 

“We can take care of our own things,” Na'Toth growled.

 

“And you should. That's why everything in here belongs to G'Kar. In fact, knowing the books were going to him specifically was what convinced most of my donors to give them up. He will decide what to do with them and when. It is out of my hands. I am sure they will all go back to your world someday, and when they do we will keep copies here to try to foster some _understanding_.”

 

“So a gift for G'Kar that serves civilization at large?” She almost laughed at him. Londo Mollari, Public Benefactor, Lover of Narns. Ridiculous.

 

“It suits him, don't you think?”

 

“...yes.”

 

“As luck would have it, it suits the budget just as well.”

 

“How _heartfelt._ ”

 

“I frequently find myself heartsick over budgetary concerns, yes.” His reply was so quick it may have been he didn't even notice that Na'Toth had been hoping to pry some more information out of him about his relationship with G'Kar.

 

“Come along, Miss Na'Toth. The others are still in the meeting hall.”

 

It was also possible that there was more to Mollari than she had believed. As he helped her gather up her fruit from the cart at the door, the idea made her a bit sick.

 


	4. Ornaments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Na'Toth snoops into jewelry and coat lining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this against a still-strong push not to. Please enjoy it.

She had little time to snoop, but what she did have she tried to make the most of.

 

Part of her job was securing the various rooms Mollari and his people used for any of their trillions of meetings, or any location he was well-known to spend time in. Na'Toth walked the perimeter of his bedroom suite two to three times a day and each time checked closets, curtains, drawers, corners, beds, benches and light fixtures for intruders or their tools. In the pursuit of safety, she saw tiny hints of Mollari's day to day world. Opposite the library in scale, publicity and grandeur, but just as rich in information.

 

He had a box containing his many jewels, medals, and fussy bits and pieces. Most were what she expected – bright gems, too much gold, elaborate designs featuring _tentacles_ , and brooches too large to serve any practical purpose. Every so often, however, she ran into something that didn't quite fit. Something that looked as though it had been made with iridescent shell rather than a gem, something with tiny rivets, something featuring an eye rather than a tentacle.

 

Once she knew they existed, she'd see them on Mollari's sash, peeking out from under all his layers stuck to an elaborate waistcoat, or pinned on his coat over one of his hearts. Among all his other excessive finery and to eyes not expecting to see them, they blended right in.

 

Then, she began to see the little things everywhere. The edge of his coat flipped up in his chair, and the lining had been sewn in a patchwork of fabrics much rougher than any typical of the Centauri. It was paler than the colors most widely in use on her world, perhaps the fabrics had even been bleached, but the style was unmistakably Narn. One night, she took a few extra minutes to clear his bedroom of any danger, and she found the same patterns and styles in rich jewel tones on vests and waistcoats. He did not wear them often that she'd seen, but he also could not wear them for events in which he was expected to present in all white and gold, and those seemed to be growing more and more frequent even during Na'Toth's short time on this world. Many otherwise Centauri articles of clothing sported Narn-made buttons, and tiny studs and rivets caught the light where they were sewn into the hems of the embroidered Centauri fabrics. It was not in everything, but the more she looked, the more she saw.

 

Even if his position allowed him little in the way of sartorial variation, Mollari had tucked tiny references to Narn – or maybe just G'Kar, if Na'Toth was honest – into as many pieces of his clothing as possible.

 

G'Kar had left on his trip with a portion of his wardrobe, of course, but even what he'd left behind was interesting. His shelves contained something of a spectrum between Centauri and Narn aesthetics. There were things clearly tailored to him that appeared almost entirely Centauri, and there were just as many things that were clearly Centauri made but in a Narn style. He had several garments that were entirely Narn, though some appeared to have been repaired with leather that was very much not. He had coats and vests that appeared tailored to accommodate armor, and his own properly Narn formal armor pieces sat among everything, nicely polished.

 

After her initial discovery, she kept the knowledge of this strange fashion leakage to herself. She would have continued to do so had Mollari not prompted her otherwise. She was securing the room before bed time one night when he stepped in prematurely.

 

“Perhaps I can help you with something?” he offered.

 

“The point of this is to avoid you coming to harm, so no.”

 

He raised his eyebrows and took a step back so he just lingered in the door frame. He bounced a bit on his feet with his hands clasped behind his back. “It is only that I noticed your interest in my clothes. Is there something in particular you're looking for?”

 

“G'Kar,” she said, before she had a chance to think about it.

 

“I think --”

 

“I _mean_ ,” she said firmly, “his _influence._ He seems to be everywhere I look in this palace of yours, despite that he is not physically here.”

 

Mollari glanced around the room. “I've noticed the same as of late.”

 

She flung the curtains back to ensure no one hiding among them. “You own Narn ornaments.”

 

“Yes.” He paused, perhaps waiting for her, and then added, “Legitimately. They were given to me.”

 

“Reassuring,” she said, running her hands over the surface of the bathing screen. No bugs or trap buttons. “G'Kar?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I've noticed your coat, as well. Buttons, vests...”

 

“Miss Na'Toth, what are you trying to get at, exactly?”

 

“I am not sure,” she admitted. “But I will tell you when I find out.”

 

He smiled. “You've seen his things too, haven't you?”

 

“Until recently, I'd only seen his portrait.”

 

Mollari laughed, still standing in the doorway. “Did you think he went about every day covered in all that?”

 

“I have been considering it.”

 

“It is _ceremony._ It gives him status to be seen in very Centauri things, particularly the jewelry. It saves him harassment and grants him some shred of respect to be seen with things from my House, or with Imperial trinkets, but he is otherwise steadfast in his fashion choices.”

 

“And the Centauri garments I saw in there?”

 

Mollari shrugged. “For a few events, to surprise people, that sort of thing. He doesn't wear them as – I'm not forcing him into them, if you're worried about that.”

 

She had been. And even with this assurance, she still was. She'd have to speak to G'Kar when he returned.

 

“Your people recognize all those bits of jewelry?” She knelt to the floor and swept her arms under the bed.

 

“People of a certain status, yes. It is just something we learn. Styles of every house, lineages, particularly famous pieces... We all learn.”

 

“Amazing that you have the time for such things,” she sneered. “Come. The room is clear.”

 

“I think far fewer children will be taught about jewel families now, if that is some consolation to you. Soon they will recognize only the Emperor's seal and the design for a Beloved pin.” He laughed a bit and shrugged himself out of his sash and coat.

 

“Beloved? As in that gallery?”

 

He nodded. “It's a famous story, the way it started. Everyone knows the shape of it.”

 

“It's always the same?”

 

“Did you not see them? Every portrait in the hall is wearing a pin of the same design.”

 

“My focus was somewhat elsewhere.”

 

He pulled off his white gloves and flexed his fingers. “Next time you are there, look a bit closer, hmm? That little thing grants G'Kar far better treatment than he would have without it.”

 

“Isn't this all a little _telling_?”

 

Without hesitation, Mollari answered, “He saved my life, and he continues to protect it daily. Why wouldn't I select him?”

 

“Don't you have _wives_ or something?”

 

“You obviously have not met her. Timov would throw it in my face if I ever dared approach her with something like that.”

 

“Charming.”

 

“She has been recently, yes. G'Kar talks to her more than I do and that's really done wonders for our relationship.”

 

“Relationship with which of them?”

 

He glanced up at her and laughed, but did not answer.

 


	5. Greenhouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Na'Toth meets the only other Narn in the palace, who tells her about a greenhouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying being really lazy with these titles, frankly. 
> 
> Lots of little things in this one, so it's more like three sections than one all about a greenhouse, but it'll do! It will segue well into the next one this way, so it all works out.

A portrait in a hall set aside for particularly beloved people, trading ornaments, and a library were only the start. G'Kar's position in this palace was reflected as ubiquitously as possible for a Narn. If something for or by G'Kar was not on full display, it was tucked in the corners or lingering on the fringes, waiting to be uncovered.  It was likely it served to make the palace occupants used to the idea of a Narn among them as much as it was to amuse G'Kar.  The palace functioned thanks to an all-Centauri staff in the kitchens, closets, basements, gardens, and transport docks.  The medical staff, however, were the exception. Of the three doctors usually on hand to assist the palace, only one was Centauri.  The others were a Minbari and a Narn.

 

Na'Toth crossed paths with the Narn doctor in a corridor only once, but just the sight of each other had been enough to offer a great sense of connection.

 

“Well, look at you!” The doctor exclaimed when she and Na'Toth drew close enough to see each other. She offered Na'Toth a proper greeting, with her hands thumped solidly against her chest. “I'm Doctor Ka'Hari. I hadn't expected to see another Narn here after G'Kar left!”

 

“I'm surprised to see another here at all.” Na'Toth returned her greeting, relieved to perform such gestures and be properly understood. “I'm called Na'Toth. What brings you here?”

 

Doctor Ka'Hari laughed – a cute but hearty sound - and said, “I was personally requested to ensure the health and safety of the Prophet G'Kar. Even this place couldn't get me to say no to helping him.  What about you?”

 

“Strangely,” Na'Toth replied, “I'm here for much the same reason. It is a favor to G'Kar.”

 

She smirked, amused. “You're watching over Emperor Mollari?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You must be having some fun.”

 

“Must I?”

 

“Well, G'Kar is very fond of him. They have a lot of fun at the expense of the visiting royals here and – Have you seen the portrait?”

 

“Yes. And the library. And the food. And the jewels.”

 

Ka'Hari laughed again. “And the greenhouse?”

 

“Greenhouse?” By this point, Na'Toth wasn't surprised it existed, just that she'd gone so long without seeing it.

 

“Oh, you'll love it. There's a balcony view into it on the third floor, and a proper entrance downstairs, beyond the kitchen. It's a little bit of home.”

 

“I will look into it.”

 

She patted Na'Toth's shoulder. “Do so, it might help. Good day to you, Na'Toth.”

 

They nodded in parting before Na'Toth thought to ask what a greenhouse could help _with._

 

 

She returned to Mollari and his afternoon of seeing various officials in his throne room, but found her attention was not on possible threats to his life but on the greenhouse.

 

What would be in it? Plants from Narn, surely, but which plants? How many? How large a greenhouse? Why?

 

Well. She knew why. Or at least she strongly suspected. G'Kar and Mollari almost certainly had to be entangled more closely than Emperor and bodyguard. Even if the Centauri made a not-unwise practice of spoiling their bodyguards, G'Kar's closeness to Mollari, so evident even in his absence, was a strong indication that something else was going on.

 

“Are you feeling all right?” Mollari waved at her from his seat.

 

She snapped to attention. “Yes, yes. Just thinking.”

 

“Anything in particular?”

 

“You did not tell me you employed another Narn.”

 

Mollari shrugged. “Technically, I only employ one. G'Kar is not my employee.”

 

“Isn't he?”

 

“Not as such. He's...” Mollari fluttered his fingers in front of him, thinking. “A volunteer.”

 

“That's not the word I'd have used.”

 

He laughed and grinned widely. “Really? And what would you have used, eh?”

 

Na'Toth closed her eyes. “It doesn't translate into Centauri.”

 

“I see.” He sounded entirely unconvinced and she did not blame him. “Well,” he rose from his throne and signaled to the guards on the far side of the room to close the ornate doors to the room. “I think we are finished here for today. Dinner?”

 

“Whatever you wish.”

 

His mouth twisted into a crooked smile and he released an amused breath. “I don't think you have ever said that to me before.”

 

“The rock moves eventually.”

 

Mollari narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, puzzled, and then his eyes shot wide and he grinned. “Ah, yes, I know that one!”

 

“I'm sorry?”

 

“The story about the stone door moving for the first time. I've read it”

 

“Oh.” She hadn't even realized she'd used an expression from an old Narn tale.  It was so natural to her it was hard to imagine other people did not know it, though of course it made sense that they wouldn't. “Was it G'Kar's idea for you to learn Narn?”

 

“I don't remember whose idea it was, or if it even was one." He stepped down from his throne and the two of them walked behind it to head deeper into the palace, toward the small private dining area.  "I knew a little before, you know, but what you learn to get by in a military setting is somewhat limited. I could understand far more than I could speak and even that... Well, Vir was always better at it.” He looked then like he might add something more, and then shrugged. “As for the lessons, one day, they just started happening.”

 

Na'Toth smirked. “Of course they did. Like many other things, I imagine.”

 

Mollari raised an eyebrow. “Something you'd like to say?”

 

He absolutely had to know that she knew. He'd been encouraging her to this conclusion for her entire stay here.

 

They'd reached the arched door to the dining room. “Not particularly. May I be dismissed after dinner? There is something I would like to attend to.”

 

He gave her a bow and a permissive 'after you' gesture. “Of course.”

 

 

 

After dinner, she saw Mollari to his quarters and left him in the capable hands of the guards stationed at his door. She'd spoken to both of them several times during her stay in the palace. One was quite simple while the other was surprisingly insightful, and while they often frustrated each other, they were both very much in favor of the work Mollari and G'Kar had been doing with regard to Centauri and Narn relations. Mollari was safe with them.

 

Na'Toth followed the doctor's directions to find this greenhouse. The sky was already dimming, and it had been doing so earlier and earlier every night, but she estimated she'd have the better part of an hour in the greenhouse before there was no more sunlight.

 

She went immediately to the kitchen, where Doctor Ka'Hari claimed there was an entrance. The cook was still there, preparing meals for his fellow staff members now that she and Mollari had finished. He waved enthusiastically to Na'Toth.

 

“Hello, Lady Na'Toth! Need a snack already? You and G'Kar have the same stomach!”

 

A friendly and enthusiastic man, he'd been calling her by that Centauri title since her first week here, and she'd given up correcting him. “No, I'm quite full, Dikan, thank you. I'm looking for the greenhouse.”

 

“Oh, just through there!” He gestured with a spatula and a nod that waved through his hair toward an unassuming curtained doorway off to Na'Toth's right. “Religious day coming up, huh?”

 

“I am not religious,” she answered automatically as she approached the door.

 

The moment she pulled back the curtain, she understood the comment. Bursting from every corner of the greenhouse and crowded into everything in her vision were bushes upon bushes of G'Quan Eth. She had never seen that many in her life, let alone in one place.

 

There were other plants in the greenhouse, and most of them were from her world. She could pretend to be in a garden at home if she let her eyes blur.

 

Centauri made some kind of extremely potent drink from the G'Quan Eth, which could explain their presence, but Ka'Hari had seemed to think this was for G'Kar. Mollari had stocked an entire green house with a rare, expensive, and extremely endangered species just for G'Kar. He'd filled a library with rare and important Narn literature. He'd been importing some expensive and difficult to obtain food that Centauri could not digest. Just for G'Kar.

 

Everything here could be explained away with some other explanation, some kind of cultural exchange, public benefit project, even payment for G'Kar's service, but the easiest solution was the close nature of Mollari and G'Kar's relationship. It would account for absolutely everything and, as she'd learned on the trip here, the population at large was already keen on spreading rumors about that particular explanation. Why not just admit to everything?

 

She stayed in the greenhouse well after it had become dark, inhaling the scent that had become endangered back at home.

 


End file.
